The UEFA Women’s Champions League quarterfinals kicked off on Tuesday with six U.S. women’s national team players are seeing minutes in first leg action.
Emily Fox was the only winner of the night, helping Arsenal to a 3-1 first leg victory over London rivals Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium. Fox played 90 minutes at right back as the reigning UWCL holders took a vital advantage heading into next week’s second leg at Stamford Bridge.
Arsenal took a 2-0 lead into halftime thanks to early goals from Stina Blackstenius and Chloe Kelly.
Despite Lauren James’ wonderstrike trimming Chelsea’s deficit in the 66th minute, Alessia Russo netted her eighth goal of the competition to regain Arsenal’s two-goal advantage.
The Gunners would hang on to extend their current winning run to 10 matches in all competitions.
Fellow USWNT players Alyssa Thompson and Naomi Girma both started for Chelsea, with Thompson going the distance and Girma playing 57 minutes.
Stamford Bridge will host the second leg between these two clubs on April 1.
Heaps, Shrader, Yohannes all feature in Lyon’s loss to Wolfsburg
French giants Lyon suffered a first leg setback on the road in Germany on Tuesday.
Lineth Beerensteyn delivered the only goal for Wolfsburg in a 1-0 first leg triumph at the Volkswagen Arena. Wolfsburg goalkeeper Stina Johannes registered a three-save clean sheet to help neutralize Lyon over the 90 minutes.
Lindsey Heaps started and played 60 minutes for Lyon while Korbin Shrader and Lily Yohannes both featured as second-half substitutes. Shrader entered the match in the 60th-minute mark while Yohannes played the final 19 minutes herself.
The result marked Lyon’s first defeat in all competitions since suffering a 4-1 hammering against Arsenal last April in UWCL play. It also snapped Lyon’s 30-match unbeaten run.
Lyon will resume domestic play on Saturday against Strasbourg before hosting Wolfsburg at the Groupama Stadium on April 2.